The Kokoda Track Authority International Tour Operators Forum conducted at a 5-Star Brisbane hotel on 23-24 November 2023 is a far cry from remote villagers eking out a subsistence lifestyle across the Kokoda Trail – about as far as one could possibly get!
The Minutes of the forum indicate the clique of government officials, consultants, and rent-seeking eco-tour companies operate in a parallel universe to the two key stakeholders in Kokoda tourism i.e., those who invest in the pilgrimage and generate the income for the industry and those who own the land sacred to our shared military history.
Call to cancel KTA junket to Brisbane ignored
KEY FACTS
14 PNG officials flew from Port Moresby to attend the pre-Christmas forum – including a paid consultant to facilitate proceedings!
Only seven (7) of 22 tour operators listed on the KTA website attended – of these only one is legally compliant with the PNG Investment Promotion Authority (IPA) Act.
The DFAT-Kokoda Initiative engaged a PNG consultant to facilitate the forum.
The Acting CEO of the KTA, Julius Wargari, who has been ‘Acting’ for 5-years, reported that the $464,047 (PNGK1.6 million) collected in ‘trekking fees revenue’ in 2023 was spent administering themselves – but nobody knows where the money goes because he has never published a financial report in the 5-years he has occupied the position!
Mr. Wargirai neglected to explain if any portion of the trek permit fees he has collected were used to fund his international 5-Star forum in preference to supporting his subsistence villagers across the Trail who are still struggling from the economic impact of Covid.
In the interests of transparency, Mr. Wargari should be asked to advise:
- Why didn’t he just set up a Zoom meeting?
- Who paid for the PNG consultant to facilitate the forum?
- Who paid for the 14 PNG officials to fly to and from Port Moresby to attend the forum in an international hotel?
- What was the cost of conducting the forum in Brisbane?
- Why has the he failed to publish any financial reports since he was appointed in 2018?
- Why did he and/or the DFAT Strategic Advisor donate K350,000 from KTA funds to an Australian NGO which is not associated with Kokoda tourism in 2019?
KTA records distributed at the forum show that 61,690 trekkers have crossed the Trail between 2001-2023.
Assuming that each trekker would invest an average of $1000 (PNGK2500) in trekking gear (boots, clothing and personal gear); $1000 (PNGK2,500) in international airfares; and $4000 (PNGK10,000) to tour operators this would value Kokoda tourism in the region of $370 million (PNGK938 million).
GST revenue for government would therefore be in the region of $37 million (PNGK93.8 million)
KTA records indicate there were 3308 trekkers in 2023 – as a result they would have collected $456,504 (PPNGK1.6 million) from trek permit fees.
This indicates the Kokoda Trail generated $19.8 million (PNGK50 million) in tourism revenue last year – GST revenue for Government would therefore be in the region of $2 million (PNGK5 million).
Nobody at the forum, including the Governor of Oro Province, Gary Juffa; the Secretary of the DFAT Kokoda Partnership, Alia Norris; nor the DFAT Strategic Advisor, Mark Nizette; questioned why some of the GST revenue is not reinvested in Kokoda tourism!
Mark Nizette advised that legislation to establish a new ‘Kokoda Track Management Authority’ (KTMA) as an environmental body under the Conservation Environment Protection Authority (CEPA)
‘will address critical administrative resources shortages, enhance track management outcomes, provide policy direction for the industry and maximise community development gains.’
Nizette failed to mention why he has been unable to achieve these outcomes over the past 12 years as a senior DFAT Strategic Advisor and Secretary to the influential Ministerial Kokoda Initiative Committee in CEPA whilst on a generous six-figure salary package with a multi-million-dollar aid budget at his disposal.
Nizette also failed to declare he is the proponent of the proposed KTMA Bill – according to metadata within the MS Word document properties relevant to the bill:
- The author of the ‘Issues Brief KTMA Draft Legislation’ signed by Mr. Julius Wargirai, is ‘Mark Nizette’.
- The author of the ‘KTMA Bill “Zero Draft” Discussion Paper February 2022’ is ‘Mark Nizette’.
- The author of the ‘Kokoda Track Management Authority Bill 2021’ is ‘Mark Nizette’.
- The author of the ‘KTMA Discussion Paper, March 2021’, is ‘Mark Nizette’.
If it is approved by Parliament, PNG will be the only country in the world to manage their most popular tourism destination as an environmental bureaucracy!
The Minutes also advised that ‘One trekking company has had its licence suspended for undertaking unpermitted treks during 2023. The issue is under appeal within the PNG judicial system’. They were obviously referring to Adventure Kokoda.
The Minutes, distributed on 7 March 2024, were misleading – they failed to reflect that on 22 November 2023 the PNG National Court found that the decision to cancel Adventure Kokoda tour operators licence was unlawful and ordered the KTA to restore it.
The court also found that the DFAT Strategic Advisor and Secretary of the Ministerial Kokoda Initiative Committee, Mark Nizette, failed to declare a conflict of interest in the proceedings which led to the cancellation of the licence for Adventure Kokoda.
Costs, which will be in the region of K100,000 were awarded to Adventure Kokoda.
Overall. the Minutes covered issues which have been raised ad nauseum on numerous occasions at previous forums over the past decade with no outcomes apart from the enrichment of consultants.
The Secretary of the DFAT Kokoda Partnership, Ms Alia Norris, admitted that ‘the Australian Government understands that they sometimes do not get things right . ..’ – this candid admission is surely the understatement of the decade in view of the following:
- Their failure to engage an accredited Heritage Architect to develop a Military Heritage Master Plan for the Kokoda Trail (their current preference of an American anthropologist without any military history or service credentials as Australia’s National Military Heritage Advisor in PNG just doesn’t cut it).
- Their failure to restore or interpret a single significant battlesite across the Trail despite the fact that the military heritage of the place is the major drawcard for pilgrimage tourism.
- Their failure to provide a single environmental interpretation sign (common in our National Parks) anywhere across the Trail – trekkers are therefore denied information about one of the most diverse tropical environments in the world.
- Their failure to identify the indigenous names of all geographic features across the Trail.
- Their failure to develop a ‘campsite development plan’; a campsite booking system; a ‘trail maintenance plan’; a ‘trek itinerary management plan; a ‘micro-business plan’ for village communities; or a welfare support plan for guides, porters and villagers after 14 years in charge.
It is instructive, but not surprising that none of these issues were addressed at the forum.
None of the DFAT or PNG officials have ever ‘walked the Talk’ by trekking across the Kokoda Trail with a professional group which specialises in pilgrimage tourism.
None of the eco-tour operators who belong to the Australian Kokoda Tour Operators Association have ever served in the regular army
CONCLUSION
The Kokoda Trail has the potential to be a high value, world-class pilgrimage destination based on our shared military heritage with PNG.
If the DFAT KTMA Bill is approved PNG will be the only country in the world to manage their most popular tourism destination as an environmental bureaucracy for the benefit of aid-funded officials and consultants rather than as a commercial tourism enterprise for the economic benefit of traditional landowner communities.
Responsibility for the Kokoda Trail should therefore be transferred from the Department of Provincial and Local Level Government Affairs which is under the influence of the DFAT Kokoda Initiative and the Conservation Environment Protection Authority – to the Tourism Promotion Authority as it is now a national tourism assett and should be managed as such.
RELEVANT LINKS:
The Kokoda Trail: Chronology of Mismanagement 2009-2019
DFATs Environment Bill – A Suicide Note for Kokoda Tourism!
Mark Nizett MBE: Kokoda Advisor or Foreign Influencer?
The Kokoda Tour Operators Association: A Shameless Australian Lobby Group
The Rise, Fall and Future of Kokoda Tourism
Unbelievable! The total bureaucratization by disinterested Australian bureaucrats of a militarily significant, foreign owned trail.
Australian environmentalists have no place in this at all. More power to the traditional owners of the land and financial controls to ensure that they become the major beneficiaries from trekking.
Agree Stuart – my expewriences over the past 32 years has led me to understand that landowner communities across the Trail are masters of the environment which they have been nurturing for more than 20,000 years – and trekkers are most respectful of it – they tread carefully, don’t cut anything, and often pause and soak in the wonder of it all.
There is no room for academic environmental zealots who try to impose their own ideological beliefs on them.